Electronic system

ABSTRACT

In accordance with an embodiment, an electronic device includes a secure element configured to implement a plurality of operating systems; and a near field communication module coupled to the secure element by a volatile memory.

This application claims priority to French Patent Application No.1903070, filed on Mar. 25, 2019, which application is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally concerns electronic devices. Thepresent disclosure more particularly applies to an electronic componentcapable of implementing a plurality of, at least two, differentoperating systems.

BACKGROUND

Complex electronic devices, such as cell phones, tablet computers,computers, etc. integrate, over time, more and more functionalities andenable to implement digital services in order to integrate at best toeveryday life. As an example, certain cell phones, and more particularlysmart phones, integrated digital services such as a bank paymentservice, or also a service of use of public transport tickets, eventtickets, an authentication of the user by a remote system (bank, publicadministration, etc.). To implement such functionalities, the devicesmay integrate electronic components specific to these functionalities,such as for example secure components which enable to keep/storeidentification, reference, and authentication information, generallycalled “credentials”, and assets of the digital service provider, motionsensors, a near field communication module (NFC), etc.

A difficulty resulting from the addition of new functionalities is thatthis may compel certain electronic components to implement a pluralityof, at least two, operating systems. Further, difficulties may arisefrom the cohabitation of a plurality of operating systems with differentcomponents/peripherals which are connected thereto.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an embodiment, an electronic device includes a secureelement configured to implement a plurality of operating systems; and anear field communication module coupled to the secure element by avolatile memory.

In accordance with another embodiment, a method of operating anelectronic device comprising a secure element and a near fieldcommunication module coupled to the secure element by a single busincludes executing a plurality of operating systems on the secureelement; and exchanging, by a volatile memory, data between theplurality of operating systems being executed on the secure element andthe near field communication module.

In accordance with a further embodiment, a cell phone includes: a secureelement configured to execute a first operating system implementing apublic transport card service and a second operating system implementinga payment card; a near field communication module; and a volatile memorycoupled between the secure element and the near field communicationmodule.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically shows electronic circuits of an electronic device;

FIG. 2 schematically shows in the form of blocks a NFC module and asecure element of an embodiment of an electronic device;

FIG. 3 schematically shows in the form of blocks a NFC module and asecure element of another embodiment of an electronic device;

FIG. 4 schematically shows in the form of blocks a NFC module and asecure element of another embodiment of an electronic device;

FIG. 5 schematically shows in the form of blocks a NFC module and asecure element of another embodiment of an electronic device;

FIG. 6 schematically shows in the form of blocks a NFC module and asecure element of another embodiment of an electronic device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The same elements have been designated with the same reference numeralsin the different drawings. In particular, the structural and/orfunctional elements common to the different embodiments may bedesignated with the same reference numerals and may have identicalstructural, dimensional, and material properties.

For clarity, only those steps and elements which are useful to theunderstanding of the described embodiments have been shown and aredetailed. In particular, the embodiments described hereafter are adaptedto the standard near field communication (NFC) technology. Thistechnology will not be described hereafter.

Throughout the present disclosure, the term “connected” is used todesignate a direct electrical connection between circuit elements withno intermediate elements other than conductors, whereas the term“coupled” is used to designate an electrical connection between circuitelements that may be direct, or may be via one or more other elements.

In the following description, when reference is made to terms qualifyingabsolute positions, such as terms “front”, “back”, “top”, “bottom”,“left”, “right”, etc., or relative positions, such as terms “above”,“under”, “upper”, “lower”, etc., or to terms qualifying directions, suchas terms “horizontal”, “vertical”, etc., unless otherwise specified, itis referred to the orientation of the drawings.

The terms “about”, “approximately”, “substantially”, and “in the orderof” are used herein to designate a tolerance of plus or minus 10%,preferably of plus or minus 5%, of the value in question.

It would be desirable to be able to at least partly improve certainaspects of known complex electronic devices such as cell phones, andmore particularly to be able to at least partly improve certain aspectsof the cohabitation of a plurality of operating systems on a sameelectronic component.

There is a need for an electronic component adapted to the cohabitationof a plurality of operating systems and of their applications.

There is a need for an electronic device comprising a near fieldcommunication (NFC) module, adapted to the cohabitation of a pluralityof operating systems.

An embodiment overcomes all or part of the disadvantages of knownelectronic devices comprising a plurality of operating systems and anear field communication module.

An embodiment provides an electronic device comprising at least onesecure element capable of implementing at least two operating systems,and at least one near field communication module coupled to the onesecure element by at least one volatile memory.

According to an embodiment, the volatile memory is coupled to the nearfield communication module by a first bus, and to the secure element bya second bus.

According to an embodiment, the volatile memory is directly connected tothe near field communication module by the first bus, and to the secureelement by the second bus.

According to an embodiment, the near field communication module iscoupled to the secure element by at least two volatile memories or twomemory areas of a same volatile memory.

According to an embodiment, the near field communication module iscapable of directing data towards one or the other of the memories, thesecure element comprising an interface capable of associating eachoperating system with one of the volatile memories.

According to an embodiment, the interface uses a routing table as a linkbetween an operating system and a bus.

According to an embodiment, the number of volatile memories is equal tothe number of operating systems.

According to an embodiment, the near field communication module iscoupled to the secure element by a single volatile memory.

According to an embodiment, the near field communication module iscoupled to the secure element by, further, a routing circuit routingdata between the operating systems.

According to an embodiment, the routing circuit is a state machine.

According to an embodiment, the state machine forms part of the secureelement.

According to an embodiment, the routing circuit is a routing table.

According to an embodiment, the routing table forms part of the nearfield communication module.

According to an embodiment, the routing circuit is capable of storingparameters characterizing one of the operating systems.

According to an embodiment, one of the operating systems is theoperating system of a SIM card, of a payment card, or of a publictransport card.

The foregoing and other features and advantages will be discussed indetail in the following non-limiting description of specific embodimentsin connection with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows some of the electronic circuits of anelectronic device 100. Device 100 is for example a cell phone, forexample, of smart phone type, a touch tablet or a tablet computer, etc.

According to an embodiment, device 100 comprises an electronic component(107) capable of implementing a plurality of operating systems, forexample, at least two. Device 100 is compatible with the near fieldcommunication (NFC) technology. Thus, device 100 comprises, amongothers, at least one processor 101, at least one near fieldcommunication module, NFC controller, or NFC module, 103, at least oneantenna 105, and at least one secure element 107.

Processor 101 is, for example, considered as the main processor ofdevice 100. Processor 101 is capable of executing orders, transmitted,for example, by secure element 107 or by NFC module 103. Processor 101is further capable of executing other orders and functionalities ofother components of device 100.

NFC module 103 is capable of transmitting and of receiving data viaantenna 105. NFC module 103 is further capable of transmitting andreceiving data and/or control signals from processor 101 and secureelement 107.

Antenna 105 is adapted to the near field communication technology.

Secure element 107 is capable of receiving and of transmitting data toNFC module 103 and to processor 101. Secure element 107 enables toimplement secure functionalities of device 100. Secure element 107 is,for example, an embedded secure element (eSE) or an integrated secureelement (iSE). Secure element 107 may be implemented, for example, usingcircuitry, such as a processor, capable of executing software code suchas an operating system.

According to an embodiment, secure element 107 is capable ofimplementing a plurality of, at least two, operating systems. Eachoperating system has no knowledge of the other operating systems whichcohabitate therewith on the same electronic component. It cannotcommunicate, interact, or access the data of the other operatingsystems. In other words, when it is “activated”, an operating systembelieves that it is the only one to be able to access the components ofdevice 100. As an example, in the case where device 100 is a cell phone,the main operating system or first operating system is that of a SIM(Subscriber Identity Module) card, where identification information ofthe owner of the phone are stored, as well as other information enablingto connect/register the device in a mobile network. The first operatingsystem may, possibly, contain other services such as a public transportcard service. In this case, a digital application may be supplied by theoperating system of the public transport card by using a bus, forexample, a single-wire bus, to establish the communication between NFCmodule 103 and secure element 107. As an example, in this case, a secondoperating system may be an operating system of a payment card.

Thus, with a plurality of operating systems, device 100 may, accordingto the situations of use, provide the functionalities linked either tothe first or to the second operating system. In other words, the devicemay, for example, be used as a payment card or as a public transportcard.

Different connection circuits between secure element 107 and NFC module103 will be detailed in relation with FIGS. 2 to 4.

FIG. 2 schematically shows in the form of blocks an embodiment ofconnection circuits between NFC module (NFC) 103 and secure element 107of the embodiment of device 100 described in relation with FIG. 1.Element 107 is capable of implementing two operating systems, eachsymbolized by a block bearing reference (OS1) 107-1, (OS2) 107-2. Secureelement 107 comprises and implements an interface, or interface layer,or abstraction layer, 108 of the communication bus.

In this embodiment, NFC module 103 is coupled to secure element 107 viatwo buses B1 and B2. Each bus B1, B2 is capable of transmitting and ofreceiving data and control signals relative to a single operating systemor to an application executed from the application system. In the caseof FIG. 2, NFC module (NFC) 103 is capable of routing the data towardsthe adequate bus B1, B2. As an example, NFC module 103 may use part ofthe data or of the control signals to know towards which operatingsystem it should be directed. As an example, buses B1 and B2 aresingle-wire buses using a single-wire bus protocol, SWP, or aremultiple-wire buses using a multiple-wire bus protocol of MIPI DSI type(Mobile Industry Processor Interface Display Serial Interface), of I2Ctype (Inter-Integrated Circuit), of I3C type (a development of the I3Ctype), or of SPI type (Serial Peripheral Interface). As a variation, thebuses are formed of any appropriate communication support between thenear field communication module and the secure element.

Abstraction layer 108 for example enables operating system 107-1 to sendcontrol signals via the bus without having to be concerned about whetherit should use bus B1 or B2. Operating system 107-1 only sees (foritself) the existence of a bus. Interface layer 108 thus enables toestablish the relation between the operating system/bus pairs 107-1/B1and 107-2/B2, without for each operating system 107-1, 107-2 to knowthat the other one exists. For this purpose, an embodiment comprises themodeling/creation, by layer 108, of a routing or translation tablebetween the pairs. Operating systems 107-1 and 107-2, when theycommunicate over bus B1 or B2, talk to the bus in “generic” fashion. Inother words, the two operating systems 107-1 and 107-2 do not know theexistence of the two buses B1 and B2. For each of them, there exists asingle bus. Layer 108 may for example limit the number of operatingsystems (or the number of operating systems requiring access to the busthat it manages) to the number of available communication buses requiredby the operating systems, which may be useful in the case where thenumber of buses is smaller than the number of operating systems managedby the secure element. According to an embodiment, NFC module 103contains information representative of the number of operating systemsimplemented by secure element 107.

According to an alternative embodiment, device 100 may comprise a secureelement capable of implementing more than two operating systems capableof receiving data from and/or transmitting data to the NFC module. Inthis case, the NFC module may be connected to the secure element by asmany buses as there are operating systems implemented by the secureelement.

FIG. 3 schematically shows in the form of blocks an embodiment ofconnection circuits between NFC module 103 and secure element 107 of theembodiment of device 100 described in relation with FIG. 1. As in FIG.2, element 107 is capable of implementing two operating systems, eachsymbolized by a block bearing reference (OS1) 107-1, (OS2) 107-2.

In this embodiment, NFC module 103 is coupled to secure element 107 viaa single bus B3 which transmits data and control signals indifferentlyintended for the two operating systems. Secure element 107 comprises arouting/abstraction layer 120, or routing circuit, enabling to directthe data and control signals towards the concerned operating system.Routing circuit 120 further allows to modify or to adapt data andcontrol signals transmitted by circuit 120 to the operating systems, sothat each operating system has no knowledge of the existence of theother operating systems. Doing so, each operating system believes orconsiders that it is the only one to operate the secure element 107. Therouting/abstraction layer is driven by an external arbitration entity(ARBITER) 122, or arbiter, which is controlled, for example, by mainprocessor 101. Such an arbiter interacts with secure element 107, andmore particularly with routing/abstraction layer 120, to signify theretowhich operating system will be in charge of processing the incomingdata. The routing/abstraction layer also has the function that, when anoperating system is activated for the first time, the operating systemwill want to configure the NFC controller with its own parameters (asdefined in standard ETSI TS 102 622). When another operating system willbe activated for the first time, it will also have to configure the NFCmodule with its own parameters. Without the routing circuit, this lastoperation would erase the configuration of the first operating system.The routing layer should thus “store” the configuration achieved by eachoperating system and recharge it into the NFC controller for each changeof activation of a different operating system. The routing circuit maytake a plurality of forms and may vary according to the application, butthe stored configuration remains usable and internally stored by therouting circuit, which can then complete it with new configurationinformation supplied by each operating system for the NFC controller. Inthe embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the routing circuit is a statemachine comprising an input, coupled to bus B3, and two outputs, each incommunication with an operating system of secure element 107-1, 107-2.

According to an embodiment, device 100 may comprise a secure elementcapable of implementing more than two operating systems, in this case,the routing circuit comprises as many outputs as there are operatingsystems capable of receiving dtat from and/or transmitting data to theNFC module and implemented by secure element 107.

Routing circuit 120 uses, for example, information contained in the dataor the control signals to determine which operating system is theaddressee thereof. According to an embodiment, the routing circuit maybe controlled by secure element 107 or by NFC module 103 to direct thedata towards the concerned operating system 107-1, 107-2. The routingcircuit is particularly used to assign pipes to ports of the NFC router.The routing circuit created by routing/translation layer 120 is forexample implemented by a lookup table, for example, stored in anon-volatile memory. According to a variation, routing circuit 120 maybe implemented by a state machine.

FIG. 4 schematically shows in the form of blocks an embodiment of anarchitecture for coupling NFC module 103 and secure element 107 of theembodiment of device 100 described in relation with FIG. 1. As in FIGS.2 and 3, element 107 is capable of implementing two operating systems,each symbolized by a block designated with reference (OS1) 107-1, (OS2)107-2.

In this embodiment, NFC module 103 is coupled to secure element 107 viaa single bus B3 which indifferently transmits data and control signalsintended for the two operating systems. The data and control signals aredirected by a routing circuit 121 comprised within NFC module 103towards the concerned operating system. In the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 4, routing circuit 121 comprises an input, receiving data from areceive circuit 123, and an output, coupled to bus B3. According to analternative embodiment, device 100 may comprise a secure element capableof implementing more than two operating systems, in this case, routingcircuit 121 comprises as many outputs as there are operating systemscapable of receiving data from and/or transmitting data to the NFCmodule and implemented by the secure element. According to anembodiment, routing circuit 121 is a routing table. NFC module 103generally comprises a routing table, but routing table 121 is anadditional routing table. If the system supports an undetermined numberof operating systems, the NFC module is informed thereof (for example,during the establishing of the communication with module 107 orprocessor 101) to target a specific operating system 107-1 or 107-2 andnot generally secure element 107.

Routing circuit 121 for example uses information contained in the dataor the control signals to determine which operating system is theaddressee thereof. Routing circuit 121 is for example implemented by alookup table, for example, stored in a non-volatile memory, interpretedby conversion circuits 131 and 132.

Conversion circuits 131 and 132 are data conversion circuits capable ofconverting the received data and control signals so that they becomecomprehensible and executable by the concerned operating system, and sothat the conversion circuits remove routing data or control signalswhich would have been added by the NFC controller. Similarly, if amessage should be sent from a specific operating system (107-1 or107-2), conversion circuits 131 and 132 have to add the informationnecessary for the routing. As an example, conversion circuits 131 and132 are partially or totally comprised within secure element 107.Conversion circuits 131, 132 thus allow to let each operating system107-1, 107-2 to consider that it is the only one to be able to operatethe secure element 107. Indeed, each operating system only receive dataand control signals, which are directly intended to this operatingsystem and which it is capable of interpreting and/or implementing.

According to an alternative embodiment, since bus B3 may be formed of aplurality of conductors, a first group of conductors may be delegated tothe transmission of data and control signals concerning a singleoperating system 107-1 and a second group of data may be delegated tothe transmission of data and control signals to the other operatingsystem.

FIG. 5 schematically shows in the form of blocks another embodiment ofconnection circuits between NFC module 103 and secure element 107 of theembodiment of device 100 described in relation with FIG. 1. Element 107is capable of implementing two operating systems called OS1 and OS2, andis identical to element 107 described in relation with FIG. 2. Thus,element 107 comprises abstraction layer 108.

The embodiment described herein is an alternative embodiment of theembodiment described in relation with FIG. 2, where buses B1 and B2 areeach replaced with a memory. More particularly, each bus B1, B2 isreplaced with a volatile memory 141 (RAM1), 142 (RAM2). Each memory 141,respectively 142, is coupled to NFC module 103 by a bus B41,respectively B43, and is coupled to element 107 by a bus B42,respectively B44. Volatile memories 141 and 142 may be implemented, forexample, using volatile memory circuits known in the art including, butnot limited to random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory(DRAM), and static random access memory (SRAM).

In this embodiment, NFC module (NFC) 103 is capable of routing the datatowards the adequate memory 141, 142.

In this embodiment, the data sent by NFC module 103 to element 107, andintended for operating system OS1 are, first, transmitted, by bus B41,and then written into memory 141 by NFC module 103. Then, element 107recovers the data from memory 141, via bus B42. The data then reach thelevel of abstraction layer 108 as described in relation with FIG. 2.

Similarly, the data sent by NFC module 103 to element 107, and intendedfor operating system OS2 are, first, transmitted, by bus B43, and thenwritten into memory 142 by NFC module 103. Then, element 107 recoversthe data from memory 142, via bus B44. The data then reach the level ofabstraction layer 108 as described in relation with FIG. 2.

According to an embodiment, volatile memories 141 and 142 are two memoryareas of a same volatile memory.

FIG. 6 schematically shows in the form of blocks another embodiment ofconnection circuits between NFC module 103 and secure element 107 of theembodiment of device 100 described in relation with FIG. 1.

The embodiment described herein is an alternative embodiment of theembodiments described in relation with FIGS. 3 and 4, where bus B3 isreplaced with a volatile memory. More particularly, bus B3 is replacedwith a volatile memory 151 (RAM3), coupled to NFC module 103 by a busB51 and to element 107 by a bus B52.

In such variations, the data sent by NFC module 103 to element 107 are,first, transmitted by bus B51, and then written into memory 151 by NFCmodule 103. Then, element 107 recovers the data from memory 151, via busB52.

The NFC module and element 107 may be identical to the NFC module and tothe element 107 described in relation with FIG. 3 or may be identical tothe NFC module and to the element 107 described in relation with FIG. 4.

Various embodiments and variations have been described. It will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that certain features of thesevarious embodiments and variations may be combined, and other variationswill occur to those skilled in the art.

Finally, the practical implementation of the described embodiments andvariations is within the abilities of those skilled in the art based onthe functional indications given hereinabove.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: a secure elementconfigured to implement a plurality of operating systems; and a nearfield communication module coupled to the secure element by a volatilememory.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the volatile memory is coupledto the near field communication module by a first bus, and is coupled tothe secure element by a second bus.
 3. The device of claim 2, whereinthe volatile memory is directly connected to the near fieldcommunication module by the first bus, and is directly connected to thesecure element by the second bus.
 4. The device of claim 1, wherein thevolatile memory comprises a plurality of volatile memories or aplurality of volatile memory areas of a same volatile memory.
 5. Thedevice of claim 4, wherein: the plurality of volatile memories comprisesa same number of volatile memories as a number of operating systems ofthe plurality of operating systems; or the plurality of volatile memoryareas comprises a same number of volatile memory areas as a number ofoperating systems of the plurality of operating systems.
 6. The deviceof claim 4, wherein the near field communication module is configured toroute data towards one of the plurality of volatile memories or to oneof the plurality of volatile memory areas, and the secure elementcomprises an interface configured to associate each operating system ofthe plurality of operating systems with a corresponding one of theplurality of volatile memories or with a corresponding one of theplurality of volatile memory areas.
 7. The device of claim 6, whereinthe interface uses a routing table as a link between an operating systemand a bus.
 8. The device of claim 1, wherein the volatile memorycomprises a single volatile memory.
 9. The device of claim 8, furthercomprising a routing circuit coupled between the secure element and thenear field communication module, wherein the routing circuit isconfigured to route data between the plurality of operating systems. 10.The device of claim 9, wherein the routing circuit is a state machine.11. The device of claim 10, wherein the state machine is comprised bythe secure element.
 12. The device of claim 9, wherein the routingcircuit is a routing table.
 13. The device of claim 12, wherein therouting table is comprised by the near field communication module. 14.The device of claim 12, wherein the routing circuit is configured tostore parameters characterizing one of the operating systems of theplurality of operating systems.
 15. The device of claim 1, wherein oneof the plurality of operating systems is an operating system of a SIMcard, of a payment card, or of a public transport card.
 16. A method ofoperating an electronic device comprising a secure element and a nearfield communication module coupled to the secure element by a singlebus, the method comprising: executing a plurality of operating systemson the secure element; and exchanging, by a volatile memory, databetween the plurality of operating systems being executed on the secureelement and the near field communication module.
 17. The method of claim16, wherein exchanging data comprises: exchanging data between the nearfield communication module and the volatile memory using a first bus;and exchanging data between the volatile memory and the secure elementusing a second bus.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein: the volatilememory comprises a plurality of volatile memories; and the methodfurther comprises using an interface to associate each operating systemof the plurality of operating systems with a corresponding one of theplurality of volatile memories.
 19. The method of claim 16, whereinexchanging data comprises using a routing circuit comprising a statemachine.
 20. The method of claim 16, exchanging data comprises using arouting circuit comprising routing table.
 21. A cell phone comprising: asecure element configured to execute a first operating systemimplementing a public transport card service and a second operatingsystem implementing a payment card; a near field communication module;and a volatile memory coupled between the secure element and the nearfield communication module.